San Franciscans swarm state capital to boost, decry rent-control law
Hundreds of San Francisco and Bay Area residents trekked to Sacramento Thursday morning, waiting in lines that stretched out of the State Capitol building, to tell the California State Assembly whether they oppose or support AB 1506, a bill that would give cities the opportunity to create new rent-controlled housing.
The bill ultimately failed to pass the Housing and Community Development Committee, falling one vote short of the necessary threshold to move forward. However, backers of the bill, which would repeal the 1995 Costa-Hawkins Act, promised to revive it.
Tenants groups like Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE) and the SF Tenants Union boarded buses before sunrise at Civic Center in order to make it to Sacramento for the 9 a.m. hearing. While lawmakers calmly listened inside, shouting matches broke out in the hallway outside as hundreds of Californians, both pro and con, waited their turn to speak.
